Little Petes tell us how it’s done!
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Using the power of rugby to deliver a social responsibility message was seen when recently the young cubs of St. Peters were helping to keep the environment clean by tidying things up after the junior super sixteen rugby tournament.The thinking to get kids involved in understanding the responsibility to help the environment is laudable. This helps to envision the world rugby core values. Well that is when the garbage that surrounds rugby still wants to play by their own warped thinking.
School rugby is powerful and well attended. There is opportunity to make this a CSR event than being confined to visibility by sponsorship. The opportunity is there for schools to partner with the corporates on cause related projects. The game is spread wide by the schools and the Ministry of Education and the opportunity lies to expand the message the Peters Juniors have evolved into.
While Schools rugby is over at this point and we move into club rugby pronouncements are made on how well Sri Lanka Rugby is positioned. The latest addition to the outgoing joke is that we are 1st in South East Asia and 4th in 15s and Sevens in Asia. The reality is different. The countries in South East Asia include India, Pakistan, Nepal and other much less known for rugby. Does it mean by being number one in such company matter? In Asia we face prospects of being relegated for not playing in the fifteens and dropping from 3rd to 4th in Sevens is an achievement then probably it is because numerically 4 is more than 3. When both financial and performance records do not speak well the best way to handle adversity is not through conveyed veiled threats.
There is a story about people who rush to astrologers and or these related to the subject. If predictions are good you are pleased because it is close to the mythical expectation you have built. But if you are told times are bad you won’t accept even if that is reality — is this also true about Rugby Sri Lanka. What a world we live in!!
During the Schools Season there were hiccups as well as some good rugby. Reading an analysis done by Boa Athukorale I noticed that Royal were much ahead of the others in scoring through tries. The inference is that they were positioned not only to win a trophy but also provide scoring opportunity that entertains the spectators. While we entertain through scores the continuous barracking of Officials during school matches is food for thought.
In a article titled “: switching the field” published In a USA website aimed to help football talks on how yelling at officials hurts children . It says that 1. They learn that mistakes are not okay.2. They learn to make excuses.3. They learn to give up when facing adversity.4. They learn to disrespect authority.5.They have negative role model. 6. They learn to be rude.7. They learn to be selfish. Good thought for a CSR. This time around it could be to burn the candle at both ends. That is the children and also the adults to whom everything is for a win at the expense of teaching children a value.
The Schools Rugby Authorities should work from now to get the Schools and those involved educated on at least the consequences that may follow in terms of the tournament rules. This is because at every turn of the Schools Rugby base, that is those advising, say we do not know anything about the tournament rules while the Schools Section says that they deal with school and the rules were distributed to all schools.
-Moving to world rugby-
World Rugby has changed the eligibility criteria to 60 months from a present 36 months. The 36-month residency requirement is increased to 60 months with effect from 31 December, 2020.
World Rugby recognises that “National team representation is the reward for devoting your career, your rugby life, to your nation and these amendments will ensure that the international arena is full of players devoted to their nation, who got there on merit.”
After the Rugby Europe Championship 2018, there has been a lot of discussions about eligibility laws as a few of the competing countries could have had non-qualified players playing for Last year’s Rugby Europe Championship Tournaments were a qualification route to the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan. Spain, Belgium and Romania paid the price. Spain and Romania who found their place in the world cup denied loss the appeal. The question of eligibility and fines has haunted Sri Lanka. A source in the council explained that at a meeting following the audit report it was assured that there is a pending case for repeal. With more tightening it may be prudent for the new council to call for such supporting documents or remain knowing that there is a deduction.
The argument in the governing body has been that you can’t have countries potentially breaking the rules to get into the World Cup.
The basic guidelines are that if you were born in a country then you can play for their national team. If your parents or grandparents were born in the country you wish to play for, then that’s OK as well.
There are also a couple of other ways you can get in as well provided from 2020 you live in the country for five years. This change allows foreign players more time to feel part of the country’s culture and no longer potentially an outsider. If you spend 10 years of cumulative residence (part-time) in that nation then you are allowed to play as well which is pretty fair.
But the Olympic Sevens’ has an anomalous law. If you have not played for your captured country for the last 18 months and have a passport to your new country then you are free to play for them only in the Olympic Games. You are allowed to switch countries especially after such a short period of living there?
The young Peterites doing their bit in the ground